When Principal Imani Carr learned that incoming sixth grader Jermaine Anthony Jones likes music, she first checked whether he had the strings class on his schedule. Then she told him she will be listening for his music.
“I want to be able to hear it all the way in my office and know that is Jermaine’s sound. That gonna be you? I’m gonna be listening for your sound, man. Because I know you probably have a specific sound, don’t you?” Carr asked him.
When Jermaine answered confidently that he does, she laughed and said she loves it.
On Monday, Urbana District 116 invited families into its newest school, the Urbana Sixth Grade Center on the site of the former Wiley Elementary School.
There are few other schools in the state focused entirely on sixth graders. In 2024, there was only one public school for sixth graders, Creative Communications Academy in Cook County, according to Illinois State Board of Education data.
Carr said that she is excited about the new approach.
“Middle school development is already tricky. Their brains are developing, their hormones are developing, and so navigating different things can come with its own frustration,” she added. “This way, we get to slow that process down and teach them the steps and the skills they need in order to be successful.”
For example, elementary school teachers escort students to all of their classes. The Sixth Grade Center will show the middle schoolers how to get to classes on their own within a two-minute passing period, before they enter the complete freedom of seventh and eighth grade at Urbana Middle School.
While Urbana administrators were confident creating a Sixth Grade Center was the right move, especially to relieve crowding in the middle school, many in the former elementary school opposed it.
Wiley Elementary School was a close-knit and successful school, according to parents. When District 116 closed the school in 2023 to remove asbestos, many at Wiley wanted a clear plan for reopening the majority-minority elementary. Instead, a committee of parents, teachers and administrators recommended creating the sixth grade center.
Jose Diego Andreas attended Wiley from first through third grade. His family lives nearby and when Wiley closed, his family scrambled to figure out transportation to the farther school, according to his older brother, Eduardo Diego.
“My parents were busy,” Eduardo said. “They worked, and I also had school, so that was a challenge for us, but we were able to overcome it.”
This year, Jose will be in the first Sixth Grade Center class. He is excited to reunite with classmates who went to different schools after the Wiley closure. The brothers also like the school’s new look.
“I think it was very good. It was very big too,” Jose said.
“Looking around the new upgrade, the new changes, right now it’s unrecognizable. At this point, doesn’t look like the old Wiley Elementary, so I’m excited,” Eduardo said.
District 116 spent $24 million on the renovations, according to Superintendent Jennifer Ivory-Tatum. There is a new band and strings room, a new entrance, and a gym that is still under construction.
Principal Imani Carr said she expects the gym to be finished by mid-September, with gym activities planned for other locations in the meantime. Carr said 322 students had registered for the Sixth Grade Center at the last count.
The final name for the center is still under discussion as well. At the most recent Board of Education meeting, the board created a committee to decide the name and how to honor the former school’s namesake, Flossie Wiley.